Abstract

This case is about James Dyson (Dyson), a UK-based engineer and founder of Dyson Appliances Ltd (DAL), best known as the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner. With sales of over £514.7 million and a presence in 45 countries worldwide as of 2007, DAL had emerged as the market leader in the vacuum cleaner market in UK as well as the USA. Analysts noted that Dyson’s journey from launching the award-winning Ballbarrow (a gardening tool) in the 1970s to building one of the most successful multinational brands (i.e. the vacuum cleaners that are called Dysons) in the 2000s had been anything but easy. There were plenty of challenging moments that punctuated his career, be it in the initial struggles to get funding for his venture or the patent litigation involving a major rival, which came much later. Despite all the problems, Dyson managed to build DAL into a market leader in a highly competitive industry dominated by multinational companies. While analysts hailed him as a great entrepreneur and praised his business acumen and approach towards innovation, Dyson also earned many laurels including receiving the knighthood for his services to the business world on December 2006. Experts felt that Dyson was not only a great inventor but had also shown sound business acumen which helped him build DAL from the ground up to a global company. However, he was also criticized for shifting the company’s production base to Malaysia in 2002. Union leaders alleged that this move had affected around 800 workers in the already waning manufacturing industry in the UK.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the personality traits of an entrepreneur from the life and work of James Dyson. Identify the benefits and challenges faced by an entrepreneurial venture with regard to managing its business growth and sustaining its innovation. Understand the

Keywords

James Dyson, Entrepreneur, Dyson Appliances Ltd., Innovation, Bagless vacuum cleaner, Market leader, Global expansion, Innovation, Dyson School of Design Innovation, Design, Off-shoring, Technological advantage, Marketing, Advertising, Public relations, Publicity, Intellectual property right, Risk taking, Hoover, Competition